After 6 weeks of painting the 25 painting series “Looking Through Windows” is done.

If you live in the Sacramento area, please come and see the exhibit! It will be exhibited at the 20th Street Art Gallery. The exhibit will be on display November 11 – December 24, 2009. To see a preview of the exhibit, check out the gallery’s blog here.

I photographed all the paintings and turned them in yesterday. While I was at the gallery, I received some postcards and my sample piece that I turned with my application for the exhibit. That reminded me that I haven’t shared this yet — here is my sample piece, “Rooftops”, oil on canvas paper:

To get ready for the exhibit, I put the images together in the order I would like them to hang on the wall. I decided to order them based on color instead of when I completed them. I think it looks nicer this way. The five on the bottom will not hang in the exhibit initially, they are extras and will be hung as pieces sell from the exhibit. And thus they are my least favorites. Here they are all together (click image to see larger):

It’s amazing what a person is capable of under stress. If you remember my last update was titled “yikes!”. At the end of week four I had less than half the paintings completed and in the last week and a half, I finished the rest. Here are some larger, individual photos of my favorites that I haven’t already shared in previous posts:

Less than two weeks to go. And I’m still behind. In fact, I’m a bit stressed out. At this point I need to finish at least one a day. So … I spent today sketching out all the remaining paintings and started painting a few of them. I feel a little better that I have a plan for each. But I need to work faster. And some of these remaining paintings are going to be simpler and less detailed so that I don’t run out of time. In the interest of time, I will only share with you the 5 I finished last week (no in-progress shots). And here they are:

I may not post next week. We’ll see if I find the time. If I don’t, the next post will show all 25 completed paintings. Stay tuned!

Hello again. Another week. Still behind, but I am closer to my goal. Here’s what I accomplished this week:

Finished: Japanese Garden

Also finished: City Flat with Flower

And Hummingbird (though very slightly different from last week’s post)

Close to complete: Moon

And Cafe window. I am going to add a sheer curtain halfway down the window.

This snowy window is about halfway done — I still need to add icicles and window frame.

This graffiti wall is also halfway complete. The window will be run-down warehouse style.

Just started: Burano Reflection

And Ferry view/ Sailboat

I also have 2 more sketched out on the panels. One – a serene beach scene from a hut. The other – fish through submarine window. And if I finish all these by the end of the week, I will be on track. So … I’ve got quite a bit to do. Have a nice week and please check back for week 4 update next Sunday.

Week 2 already?! Ok, so I wasn’t as productive as I should have been…so now I am behind schedule. But it’s okay. My new plan is to figure out as many of my ideas as I can and get the basic composition and/or background painted out. That way I will not need to stress over coming up with ideas and I can just paint.

So without further adieu … here’s what I accomplished this week …

I finished Montbleu Window, Tahoe. (Btw — these titles are not the official titles, I probably won’t have them titled until the end). This is a composite of several different photos I took from our hotel room window a couple years ago.

The Hummingbird Painting is mostly done. I plan to spend a few minutes cleaning it up before it’s completely done and ready to be signed 🙂

The Japanese Garden and City Flat Window are close to being done. Maybe an hour more each.

According to my new plan, I have very rough drafts done for the next 4 paintings: Snowy Scene, Earth Sunrise, Cafe Silhouettes, and Full Moon.

I’ve been painting every day for a week now in preparation for the 20-20 exhibit. The gallery gave us more time than the last challange (the 50-50) I participated in, but this time I chose to work in oil which requires significantly more drying time. So instead of completing a painting than starting a new one, I’m working on several at a time. I really like painting this way.

Here’s what I accomplished during week one. I finished 2 paintings:

Orsay Clock window. This is from a photo I took at the Orsay Museum in Paris.

And this one:

And here are 4 that I’m working on:

Please check back next weekend for week 2 update. Now back to painting . . .

Lottery

The Lottery for the Arts exhibit is up at the Blue Line Gallery throught the end of the week. I have two pieces in the exhibit (see photos below … number 20 and 23). The actual Lottery event will take place this Friday evening and tickets are still available here. Ticket buyers will go home with one of the 104 pieces in the exhibit. Should be a fun evening 🙂

PRESS COVERAGE:

I was mentioned in an article about the Lottery for the Arts that appeared in the Press Tribune last Saturday. Click here for the article.

#20 Jungle of Hair, engraving

Tomorrow night there will be a special artist reception during which the winner of the “People’s Choice” will be announced. Since I work at Roseville Arts I have some inside scoop… as of yesterday, one of my peices #20 was in second place. YOU can help tip the scales — if you are living in the area — stop by the Blue Line Gallery and vote for #20! 🙂

#23 Grand Oak, etching

20-20

I am participating in another group exhibit at the 20th Street Gallery called 20-20. It’s modeled after the 50-50 show I participated in last year. This time it’s 20 pieces of art by each artist! I got my panels today… so I will be busy painting every day. I will post photos of my progress, so stay tuned . . .

Hey There! Just wanted to let you know about this really unique new event at the Blue Line Gallery. It’s an exhibit and fundraising event called Lottery for the Arts!

The way it works is the organization asked artists to donate some art pieces which will be exhibited Sept 1-11 at the Blue Line Gallery. And they are selling lottery tickets (which are not cheap, but well worth the cost) for the Lottery “party”. On the evening of Sept 11, there will be a private event for ticket holders and their guests — they will enjoy food & wine while they wait for their names to be drawn. Once their name is drawn, they will choose their piece of art. Every ticket holder will go home with an original art piece art valued between $175-$1200! So it’s a lottery where everyone is a winner!

Should be a great event! For more information and to see the artwork donated so far or to purchase your ticket, click here.

I will have 2 pieces in the exhibit. They are both intaglio pieces, created using etching or engraving and aquatint on a copper plate and hand printed on an etching press. If you buy a ticket, you may win one of these (they will be matted and framed, I’ll post photos soon):

I’m very excited to announce that my painting was selected as the image for the Official Roseville Centennial Poster. For those of you that live in the area and would like to purchase one, they are available at the Blue Line Gallery for $15.00. The poster size is 18 x 24 inches. A copy of this poster can also be found at the Roseville Library Archives.

I created it for the Celebrating Roseville: A Centennial Exhibit at the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville CA. The city is celebrating its one hundredth year and the Blue Line Gallery is celebrating with the city 🙂

The painting is large (for me anyway), it’s 2′ x 3′ and very detailed. I had one month to complete it and I worked an incredible amount of hours on it. But alas it is complete!

The exhibit opens Saturday night with live music by Gypsy Standard Time and snacks from Kelli’s cookies. Should be fun!